FILE- In this Oct. 26, 2011 file photo, wind turbines line the hillside at First Wind's project in Sheffield, Vt. Government officials in Vermont, Canada and Australia have dismissed concerns about the health effects of noise from wind power turbines, but donÂt tell that to people living near them. Now a Vermont home abandoned by a family who said they were made ill by nearby turbines will be used for sound-monitoring research. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File) less

FILE- In this Oct. 26, 2011 file photo, wind turbines line the hillside at First Wind's project in Sheffield, Vt. Government officials in Vermont, Canada and Australia have dismissed concerns about the health ... more

Photo: Toby Talbot, STF

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Wood Mackenzie believes major oil companies will shift more of their money into solar panels.﻿

Wood Mackenzie believes major oil companies will shift more of their money into solar panels.﻿

Photo: Stephen Wandera, STR

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FILE - In this June 18, 2010, file photo, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., center, helps as Solar City employees Jarret Esposito, left, and Jake Torwatzky, right, install a solar panel on a home in south Denver. The solar panel installer SolarCity said Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, it will launch an investment platform that will allow individuals and others to invest in rooftop solar systems directly with SolarCity. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File) less

FILE - In this June 18, 2010, file photo, U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, D-Colo., center, helps as Solar City employees Jarret Esposito, left, and Jake Torwatzky, right, install a solar panel on a home in south ... more

Photo: Ed Andrieski, STF

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Big Oil could shift a fifth of spending to renewables by 2035, Wood Mac says

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Major oil companies could shift more than a fifth of their drilling investments to renewable energy as wind and solar grow rapidly over the next two decades, Wood Mackenzie says.

But modern wind and solar projects are too small to replace those companies' fossil fuel operations, the research firm said in a new report Monday.

In recent years, European oil majors like Shell, BP and Total have poured billions of dollars into renewable energy projects from West Texas to the North Sea, acknowledging solar and wind will have a bigger role in the energy mix in decades to come.

Wood Mac said it believes with today's technology, wind power will grow 6 percent a year and solar will expand 11 percent a year over the next two decades. The research firm said technological breakthroughs could dramatically alter its projections, meaning renewables could grow faster than it expects.

But the firm said major oil companies would have to spend some $350 billion on today's solar panels and wind turbines to boost renewables to just 6.5 percent of their current energy production. Offshore wind projects, it said, could offer the oil majors the biggest scale, "on par with upstream mega-projects," while solar "is more fragmented and competitive."

"Wind and solar are increasingly important strategic growth themes that the majors cannot afford to ignore as they plan for 2035 and beyond," Wood Mac said. "Companies are only just starting to sow the seeds for the radical changes that lie ahead."